diff --git a/kittens/choose/main.c b/kittens/choose/main.c
index 0d83dc3d4..f84f1cb11 100644
--- a/kittens/choose/main.c
+++ b/kittens/choose/main.c
@@ -128,8 +128,9 @@ run_search(Options *opts, GlobalData *global, const char * const *lines, const s
     Chars chars = {0};
 
     ALLOC_VEC(text_t, chars, 8192 * 20);
+    if (chars.data == NULL) return 1;
     ALLOC_VEC(Candidate, candidates, 8192);
-    if (chars.data == NULL || candidates.data == NULL) return 1;
+    if (candidates.data == NULL) { FREE_VEC(candidates) return 1; }
 
     for (size_t i = 0; i < num_lines; i++) {
         sz = sizes[i];